


Puppy Love

by ChrisWrites



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-25 01:06:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4940815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisWrites/pseuds/ChrisWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia finds a shocking fact about Elize's crush during their nightly girl talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> Based only on the first game since I hadn't played the second when I first started writing this. This is completely serious, not some crack thing; Elize just seems to have an unrequited puppy crush through the game between the blushing and stammering and staring. Just a cute bit of child stuff with the underrated baby.

Spending a night at an inn brought a sense of normalcy to Leia's life that she hadn't had since leaving Leronde. By day they were heroes traveling across continents and risking their lives at every turn, but nights in the city were as relaxing as it could get. And Leia felt very at home at inns, even if none of them they had visited were as good as the Leronde Lodge.

The biggest comfort wasn't just the now-luxury of sleeping in a bed, but having someone to talk to late at night. Once Elize finally cheered up and decided they were friends, she seemed to enjoy staying up to discuss girly things as much as Leia did. Milla hadn't returned to the designated girls' room yet, so they sat on opposite ends of one of the beds as Leia started the conversation.

"Did you see Alvin today when that bandit tried to yank his coat? Ripped his shirt down the middle, I'm surprised at how nice he looks." She was trying to heal a shallow cut across his torso when his attacked grabbed at him, got a handful of shirt, and was promptly whipped across the face with Alvin's gun. When he fell, he took the torn scrap of shirt with him.

"I don't like Alvin." Elize crossed her arms over the pillow she clutched to her chest; Leia noticed she'd been holding onto things ever since Teepo decided to float next to her.

"Well yeah, he's a terrible person." If she listed off all the reasons she couldn't trust him on her fingers, she would have to borrow Elize's hands to keep going past 10. "But physically, I mean. I guess you have to have a nice body to be a mercenary."

"Alvin is a gross jerk." She scowled, as if disgusted by the thought of Alvin's ripped torso.

"You're still just a kid I guess, you'll understand when you're older." It might've been a little shallow for someone as young as her to understand.

"I like people who are nice." It was almost refreshing and definitely cute how innocent her answers were. She couldn't appreciate a nice set of abs just for what they were.

"Trust me, you'll get older and start liking boys with muscles." She forgot when exactly she started caring, but she and Elize were only three years apart, so it probably wouldn't be long for her.

"But...I do like muscles." Elize looked confused.

"Maybe something more lean then, like Jude?" She remembered Jude as just a scrawny medical student, but now he was probably the most toned doctor she'd ever seen.

"I don't really like Jude either." She still looked off to the side and bit the inside of her cheek like she was either thinking or pouting.

"Huh, then what is your type?" There weren't that many body types to pick from that she could think of.

"I, I like, umm..."

Leia was about to tell her she didn't have to say anything when Teepo interrupted with, "Bazongas!"

"Teepo!" Elize tried to cover his mouth with her much smaller hands, but he had already said it.

"So that's what you want to look like when you're older?" Leia was still barely used to addressing Elize when Teepo spoke. "I guess it's hard to picture you like that, you're still pretty small."

"But I'm not talking about me!" She covered her face, pinning Teepo to her chest with her forearms so he couldn't talk anymore.

"Then...what are you talking about?"

"The same things you are."

"I'm not following." Leia was just talking about Alvin, and clearly Elize wasn't.

"We're talking about girls, right?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Well, this is girl talk. But it means we talk about things that girls like." She'd never thought about it like that, that girl talk is when she talked about boys. But it wasn't confusing enough for her to think about.

"You mean you don't like girls?" Elize looked confused again, and probably had her feelings hurt.

"No, it's not like that, I like you." They'd only made up so recently, she didn't want to ruin that again.

"Ah- oh..." Elize looked down, cheeks flushed. "I, uh, don't really like you like that, Leia..."

"Well of course not _like that_ , why would you think that?" She laughed, but that really was an unusual response. "We're just friends."

"Oh, yeah."

Teepo wiggled to free his mouth. "You're not her type anyways, Elize likes prettier girls!"

"Teepo!" She pulled him in tight to muffle his struggling.

That was even more suspicious, and Leia asked her next question slowly and cautiously. "Hey, Elize, who _do_ you like?"

"Milla, I thought you knew that."

She said it so straightforward like she was stating a favorite color or ice cream topping. "You mean like as a friend, right? Like me?"

"Nuh-uh." Elize shook her head. "I want Milla to...be my girlfriend or something..." She trailed off, almost inaudible.

"But girls are supposed to like boys." That was the only thing nobody argued about. Everybody's parents were a man and a woman. Every girl she knew, except Elize apparently, had a boy she liked.

"Wait, you like boys?" Elize scrunched her face in disgust. "That's gross."

"I don't see what's so gross about something so normal. Why _don't_ you like boys?"

"Being sick is normal and that's gross too." She pouted again.

"Well, okay..." Leia thought that being sick and staring at a working man's shirtless figure were completely different. "Where did you get the idea that you were normal?"

"Because girls are really pretty." She shrugged and looked away to think of more reasons. "And girls should be with girls, and boys should be with boys, because they're the same."

"That's true if you're just playing as friends, yeah. But it has to be boyfriend and girlfriend, because...that's normal. And because you need a boy and a girl to have a baby." That was the fastest explanation.

Elize looked at her with the most innocently-confused face she'd ever seen. "Why can't two girls have a baby?"

"Oh." Leia was speechless. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"Ahhh..." Leia didn't want to get into that. "Jude can explain it, he's a doctor."

"Why do I need a doctor to tell me? It's just babies, is it really so hard?" Her wide eyes and innocent face were so painful to look at, Leia couldn't bear to tell her the truth.

"Y-yeah, ah...it's a little complicated. But Jude knows how to explain it better than I do." She laughed nervously, shamelessly throwing him under the bus. "Hey, but, didn't you ever think about your parents? That they were a man and woman?"

Elize looked like she had the biggest revelation of her life, and her face twisted between shock and confusion. "I never thought about that."

"Yeah, that's what everybody has. Next time we go outside, watch for couples. It's like always one of each." She was careful to not bring up Hamil, it was possible she was never outside enough to see people that closely.

"I guess I didn't pay very close attention..."

Teepo interrupted before she could finish her thoughts. "Elize doesn't really care to look at boys anyways."

"That's not true!" Leia wasn't sure if she was arguing with Teepo or defending herself. "I look at a lot of people!"

"But not like you look at _Millaaaaaa_." She grabbed the bed's comforter and threw it over Teepo, muffling his taunts and then ignoring his claims of suffocation.

"So you, uh..." Leia tried to transition from the argument between them to something less awkward, unsuccessfully. "Milla?"

"Yes, Milla..." Without Teepo to hide behind, she crossed her arms tightly to hug herself and looked away.

"I...guess I'm not giving you any competition?" She couldn't tell such an embarrassed little girl she was wrong, but it was wrong. Having a girlfriend would be gross, Elize was just way too young to understand. Teepo tried to speak, probably something rude or sarcastic, but he hadn't escaped the heavy covers.

She was saved from trying to force her way through further conversation by the click of the door unlocking, and Milla walking in. Leia glanced at Elize, who looked back at her expectantly. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but her shy demeanor made more sense.

"Was I interrupting something?" Milla looked at the bundle of moving blankets that was Teepo.

"Nothing!" Elize threw them off and freed him before further questions could be asked.

"Milla!" Teepo made a beeline for her before burying himself into…her chest, like always. That made sense now, too.

"Y-yeah, it's nothing!" Leia laughed loudly to cover Elize. Even if they weren't both girls, she was still way too young for Milla.

"Was this that 'girl talk' you told me about?" One of the responsibilities that came with sharing a room with Milla was answering her many, many questions about humans. Milla waved off Teepo with little mind.

"Aha yep, you caught us!" This girl talk needed to stop immediately before Elize said anything to her. "But we were just about to go to bed."

"A missed opportunity, how unfortunate." Leia couldn't stop throwing glances at Elize, and how drastically her reactions changed.

"We could stay up a little later and keep talking for you…." Elize offered, but Leia moved in quickly to shut it down.

"It's already late, you want to grow up big don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess." Elize sighed, giving one last look at Milla who was moving into her own bed.

"Grow up and get bazongas!"

"Teepo!" Elize puffed her cheeks into a pout and curled her hands into fists, but didn't hide him like last time.

"Lights out, Teepo, pipe down." Leia was eager to end the day to sort this out the next.

* * *

After a lifetime of working at an inn, Leia was an early riser. Elize was young and slept in, and Milla was a gamble but was thankfully still asleep now. Jude and Rowen woke as early as her, and Alvin…he would survive being up a little early.

She knocked on the door for it to be answered by Rowen, still in his sleep attire and an adorable nightcap. "Miss Leia, a bit early for a regular morning visit, isn't it?"

"It's just me, the others are still asleep." She had changed out of her own pajamas before coming over. "Can I come in?"

"Alvin is still asleep but I'm sure he won't mind if you don't." He stepped aside to let her in, giving her a full view of Jude combing his hair, and a sleeping Alvin, naked from the waist up.

"Leia? What are you doing in here?" Jude hadn't changed yet either, a bunch of lazy boys compared to her well-practiced diligence.

She would have joked about checking out the view if it wasn't possible that Alvin was faking sleep. And she had to get right to business. "It's about Elize."

"Is something wrong with her?" He put the comb down and reached for the overcoat hanging off the bedpost.

"Not really. Well, maybe yeah. I don't know." It wasn't wrong with her, but it was a wrong opinion. She wasn't sure how that answered Jude's question.

"Could you perhaps elaborate on the situation?" Rowen was just as business as she was.

"Elize doesn't like boys." That summarized the previous night pretty well.

"She's just a kid, wouldn't that be expected?" Jude had stopped taking off his shirt so hastily to give her a confused look.

"But she likes girls." His face said he was going to ask another question. "She has a crush on Milla."

That stopped Jude for just a moment; Rowen was unreadable. "You're sure?"

"She used the word 'girlfriend,' Jude. I'm positive." There was no way to misinterpret that.

"That's gotta be awkward." Jude looked down in thought. "We'll have to explain now that she's too young."

"Agreed." Rowen finally said something about it. "It may hurt, but it'll be better for her in the long run."

"Wait, I think you're all missing something." Leia felt three steps behind in the conversation.

"Was there something else?" Rowen had already started a topic with Jude about how to approach her.

"Well, yeah, she _likes girls_." Leia didn't see why that needed explaining.

"Oh, right, Leronde wasn't really open about that." Jude looked embarrassed.

"Open about what?" Honesty? She'd never heard about this back home.

"Same-sex couples. I've seen a few in Fennmont." Jude shrugged like it was common knowledge.

"It's unusual, but the restrictions on it in the army have since been lifted." Rowen was really relaxed too.

"Isn't it kind of…wrong? It should be a boy and a girl." Jude thought the same thing before leaving Leronde. Was she wrong?

"There was a guy in one of my classes with a boyfriend, it confused me a first too."

"Jude that's gross!" Boys were for girls, like her, not other boys.

"I never said I was like that!"

There was a grunting sound from the opposite side of the room, and Alvin pushed himself upright. "Isn't it a little early for this?" Leia and Jude apologized simultaneously, and Alvin cracked his eyes open and pulled the comforter up over his chest. "Wh- Leia? What are you doing in here?"

"Ah, sorry again." She looked away to give him a sense of privacy. "We're talking about Elize."

"Something wrong with the kid?" He was still slurring his words from having just woken up, but he was serious.

Jude explained before Leia could. "She has a crush on Milla."

"Poor kid is gonna be devastated." He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly. "Anyone break it to her yet?"

"That's what we're discussing." Rowen had been sitting in thought. "Perhaps it's best to tell her today, while there's no immediately-pressing concerns."

Leia was still reeling from the widespread acceptance. "Alvin, you don't think there's anything wrong with Elize liking a girl?"

"That's less of a problem than her being a kid. I could tell you some things about some of the girls I've met." He gave a tired grin that only disgusted Leia.

"You're gross too!" She didn't even want to know what he meant by that.

"Whaaat, I didn't say anything." His grin stayed plastered on his face.

"So, uh, anyways..." If everyone was rolling with it, she was going to try, too. "How did you wanna tell her?"

"Just after breakfast would be best." Rowen seemed to have a plan all worked out already. "We'll explain it to Milla first, and make sure she lets her down easy."

"You sure that's the best way? I'm not so sure Milla knows the definition of easy." Alvin put on a shirt hanging from a bedpost.

"Yeah, it'd be better for her if one of us explained it." Leia rarely agreed with Alvin when it came to decisions.

"Actually, I think Rowen's right." And normally she agreed with Jude, but not this time. "She's only going to be mad at us if we speak for Milla, and if Milla finds out before us then it's only going to be worse for Elize."

"Precisely." Rowen nodded, smiling.

"Kid's got a point." Alvin stretched his arms, waking himself up in preparation of their plan.

"So who's going to distract Elize?" Leia wanted to be involved in this plan if it was going to help Elize.

"I'll do it," Alvin volunteered. "The rest of you can probably explain things better to Milla."

"Does she really trust you enough to go with you?" Leia remembered more than one comment about how Elize found him gross.

"I'll make breakfast, someone volunteer Elize to help me." Alvin must have been serious about helping if he was offering to cook for the first time.

Rowen finalized the plan with, "And the rest of us will coach Milla."

"Great." Leia glanced at the window and how bright it had gotten in the few minutes they were talking. "I'd better get back before they wake up."

"We'll see you at breakfast, then." Jude sent her off to sneak back into the room.

* * *

Elize avoided looking directly at Leia and Milla all morning, but she was sent away to help cook breakfast with little fuss. The rest of them gathered in the boys' room , and it was on Leia to explain the situation to an unaware Milla.

"I see, so Elize experiences romantic affection for me?" Milla seemed to grasp the situation.

"That's about it." Leia was glad she picked it up quickly.

"I read about childhood crushes in _Rais_ _ing Your Teenager_ , we're supposed to treat it as normal but ensure they know the concept of age gaps."

"Just how many childcare books did you read?" Jude asked.

"Enough to understand human culture from the very first stages of life." Milla looked proud of her knowledge.

Rowen cut in with, "Getting back on track, that's correct. But we're here to ensure it's done properly."

"I know exactly what to say. I'll be understanding and direct." Milla sat up even straighter like a proud child. She was always proud when she knew something about humans without being told first.

"That's our concern." Jude rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "She's a child, you have to be gentle."

Leia wanted to know what they were working with, and asked, "Could you maybe tell us what you were going to say to her?"

"Of course." Milla cleared her throat and spoke like a stern teacher reciting a book passage. "Elize. You're still just a child, and while your feelings are valid, they will never be reciprocated and you will eventually grow out of this phase."

"That's a little..." Leia wasn't sure what to call it. Not incorrect, but not exactly sensitive either.

"It requires improvement." Rowen had a description covered.

"I see. So something about my execution was flawed?" Milla looked both disappointed and confused.

"Basically." Jude crossed his arms in thought. "You have to be direct about the issue, but you can't say it so harshly."

"So you want me to be direct, but say it indirectly? That's quite the conundrum." She crossed her arms and scowled in thought.

"May we perhaps suggest a script?" Rowen offered. It was a good idea, give Milla something to reference.

"Of course, any help is appreciated."

Leia knew the most about how Elize felt, so she stepped up with what she felt was best. "She doesn't understand the age gap, so you have to tell her that's the reason why. Make sure she knows you still like her as a friend."

Milla tried again with, "Elize, you and I are friends, but because you're a child there can be no romantic relation between us."

"That's...closer, technically." Jude put his hand to his chin. "It's almost a good opening line."

"You mean this will take more than one sentence? How complicated, human emotions require such precise sensitivity."

"How about you start off telling her you're friends?" Jude suggested. "It might soften the blow."

"How about, 'I want you to know that you and I are friends'?"

"I think we're getting there." Leia glanced at the clock and hoped they could smooth it all out in the estimated remaining 20 minutes.

* * *

They finished breakfast with an awkward silence, only Milla and an oblivious Elize immune. The two were volunteered for dish duty to give them their privacy. Naturally, the others were around the corner eavesdropping. Leia was surprised Rowen, the supposed mature guardian, had given only a sarcastic comment on "spying properly."

"If you peek around that much she'll see you." Rowen insisted that Alvin stop trying to get a visual.

"Is this really alright?" Jude, on the other hand, was skeptical.

"It's fine, it's fine." And Leia would be excited just to hear anything.

"This is really personal for Elize. We should probably leave."

"And miss Milla trying to be sensitive?" Alvin scoffed. "No thanks."

"We can hear about it afterwards." Jude was free to leave, but he stayed put and didn't alert Elize and Milla despite his words.

"It's not the same." Leia thought Alvin was right, this would be worth it to hear Milla stumble her way through. And in an emergency one of them could step in if she went too far off script.

"Quiet you three." Rowen silenced them. "She's starting."

"Elize, you and I are friends, right?" Sure enough, Milla dropped her opener.

"Of course!" Elize was a little too quick to respond.

Teepo cut in with, "The best of friends!"

"And that's all?"

"Y-yeah..." They couldn't see, but Elize sounded shy.

"Are you sure that's it? You sound like you want to say something else."

"Well..." The poor girl was about to have her heart broken. "Maybe..."

"What do you mean by that?" Good, Milla was following her instruction to make Elize say everything herself. "Teepo?"

"Nuh-uh, Elize wants to tell you herself." So he wasn't going to be ruining the moment for either of them.

"I like you, a lot." She was speaking so quietly it was hard to hear her over the clatter of dishes.

"And I like you too."

"Really?" This was much louder and clear.

"Of course, we just established that we're friends."

"Oh, r-right..." Leia couldn't make out the next part.

"Was there something else?" The suspense was too much, they just needed to come out and say it.

"Yeah, kinda..." Elize paused, probably to collect herself enough to speak. "What if we were...more than friends?"

"You mean like very good friends?" So close, poor Elize. But it was almost over.

"More than that. Like..." She either trailed off or was inaudible again.

Teepo had the answer this time. "Elize wants to be your girlfriend!"

" _Teepo!_ " It was the loudest Elize had been all morning.

Milla was silent for a moment – the awkwardness was practically visible through the wall – before giving a bland, "I see."

"So..." Elize was mumbling, but it sounded like, "What do you think?"

"You are aware that you are a child and I am not, correct?"

"But I'm really mature for my age!" Elize argued. "I'm one of the best spirit arte users in the world."

"Elize is really smart too!"

"Your mana lobe isn't tied to maturity. Alvin's inability to channel artes should be proof of that."

"But..."

"Elize." Milla cut her off. "You need to find someone your own age." It was effective, but hardly gentle.

Alvin spoke under his breath, "Scatter, she's about to come this way." Sure enough, by the time they were a non-suspicious distance from the door and each other, Elize ran by them towards the girls' room, crying and followed by Teepo.

"I'll go cheer her up." Alvin followed her when she was out of the room. "Damage control, you know?"

"Good luck." Leia went with the others to help Milla with cleanup and also congratulate her on getting through it.

* * *

It was afternoon when Leia saw Elize and Alvin again, but she expected to not see her for the rest of the day. She was hiding behind Teepo, but Alvin had a troublesome smirk.

"Something up?" They looked like they had something to ask her.

"I hear you have an appreciation for a certain someone." Alvin shrugged open his jacket the slightest bit, revealing that he wasn't wearing his shirt underneath it.

Oh no. "Elize!"

She was still hiding her face in Teepo, who answered for her. "You shouldn't go telling our secrets to everyone."

"That- that was different!" It was less embarrassing, too.

"Don't worry, I like me too." Alvin wouldn't drop the frustrating grin. "I better watch my back _and_ front around you."

She would have to watch what she said around Elize for awhile.


End file.
